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Charles Templeton Crocker (September 2, 1884 – December 12, 1948) was an American philanthropist, art patron and yachtsman. He was a past president of the California Historical Society and a member of the board of directors for over twenty years. He also wrote the libretto to the first American opera that was produced in Europe; helped popularize French Art Deco in America; and funded and headed expeditions with the California Academy of Sciences and other academic institutions aboard his personal yacht Zaca. The town of Templeton is named after him. Life and family Charles Templeton Crocker was born September 2, 1884, in San Francisco, California, the only son and second (of three) children born to Charles Frederick (Fred) & Jennie Crocker (née Easton); Templeton's paternal grandfather was Charles Crocker, one of the Big Four railroad magnates. Both parents died when he and his sisters were young: their mother died shortly after the birth of the youngest sister, Jennie, in 1887, and their father died in 1897. The three Crocker siblings continued to live in the family's Hillsborough estate Uplands with their maternal grandmother, Adeline Easton. Their parents had left them an $8 million fortune, which was put in trust and distributed to each in turn when they came of age; Mary, the eldest, inherited her share in 1899. Templeton survived significant injuries and illnesses when he was younger, including a grave fever when he was six, an accident involving a stair bannister a few months later, and fracturing both legs after being thrown by his horse when he was seventeen. By the time Templeton received his $5 million share upon turning 21 years old in 1905, the siblings' collective inheritance had grown to $15 million with investments. Templeton and his younger sister Jennie received an additional $4 million inheritance in 1910 upon the death of their uncle George. Templeton attended the Westminster School, graduating in 1903, and went on to attend Yale (graduating in 1908); Cole Porter was among his friends there. Upon his graduation, he returned to San Francisco and lived in the family's thirty-seven-room Italian villa on their 118-acre (48 ha) estate in Hillsborough. The three Crocker siblings had inherited the Uplands estate upon their father's death; following Mary's untimely death in 1905 and Jennie's purchase of the Tevis estate in 1910, the property became Templeton's sole possession. Templeton married Helene Irwin, daughter of the Hawaiian sugar baron William G. Irwin, at the Irwin family home in San Francisco on February 28, 1911. At the time of their marriage, the couple's combined net worth was estimated at US$28,000,000 (equivalent to $915,600,000 in 2023). Shortly after they were married, Templeton hired noted architect Willis Polk to design a new mansion for the site as a wedding present for his wife. Work began on the new mansion, named Uplands II, in 1913 and was completed in 1917.: 15  Outdoor scenes for the motion picture Gimme were filmed by Rupert Hughes at Uplands II in 1922; the salaries of the society women who served as extras and the rental fee for the grounds were donated to charity. Irwin and Crocker announced their intention to divorce in 1927, with Irwin alleging cruelty, long absences from home, and neglect; the divorce was finalized in 1928 and Crocker decamped to his new San Francisco apartment, selling the mansion in 1942 to Romie C. Jacks, the son of David Jacks, who popularized Monterey Jack cheese. Uplands II was temporarily rented in 1951 to a Soviet delegation, including Deputy Foreign Secretary Andrei Gromyko, who were attending the Japanese Peace Conference that year. Jennie Crocker repurchased Uplands II in 1956 for US$95,000 (equivalent to $1,060,000 in 2023) and assisted the Trustees of Crystal Springs School in acquiring it for Crystal Springs Uplands School, where it serves as the main building for the private high school. The mansion is one of three prominent examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in Hillsborough, along with Carolands and La Dolphine.: 15–18  The original Uplands I was sold to C.J. Lindgren and moved to a new site approximately 350 yards (320 m) north from its original location in 1915. Reportedly, Lindgren was given the house for free, conditioned on its successful removal. It is still standing at 401 El Cerrito Avenue, near the intersection with Poett Road, albeit with significant alternations; when it was owned by George Randolph Hearst, who purchased it in 1927, he hired Julia Morgan to remodel it.: 14  On December 12, 1948, Crocker died in his suite at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco after a long illness. After suffering a stroke, Crocker lived the last four years of his life at the hotel. Funeral services were held at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in San Mateo, after which he was interred at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park. Extended family Templeton was the grandson of Charles Crocker, one of the four chief builders of the western portion of the Transcontinental Railroad. His uncles were banker and investor William H. Crocker, president of the Crocker Bank and George Crocker, second vice-president of the Southern Pacific Railroad. His mother's family were also prominent citizens on the San Francisco Peninsula: his maternal grandparents, Ansel I. and Adeline Easton (née Mills) survived the sinking of the SS Central America off Cape Hatteras during their honeymoon in 1857. Adeline's brother Darius Ogden Mills, for whom the city of Millbrae is named, was once credited as California's richest citizen. His brother-in-law, via marriage to his eldest sister Mary, was Francis Burton Harrison. The first husband of his younger sister Jennie was national tennis champion Malcolm Whitman; after their divorce, Jennie married businessman Robert Henderson. Templeton's uncle (his mother's brother) Ansel Mills Easton was married to Louise (née Adams); Louise's brother Charles Adams was the father of famed photographer Ansel Easton Adams, making Ansel Adams a cousin by marriage. One cousin was the mystic, princess and author Aimee Crocker. His great uncle Edwin B. Crocker built Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum. Interests In 1910, when the Town of Hillsborough was considering articles of incorporation, Templeton Crocker was advanced as a candidate for its first mayor. Librettist A few years later, the multi-faceted multi-millionaire made history as a librettist. He wrote the lyrics for an opera entitled The Land of Happiness, a Chinese fantasy-extravaganza set to music by composer (and Southern Pacific attorney) Joseph Redding which premiered on August 4, 1917, at the Bohemian Grove.: 3  After the success of this opera, Crocker was encouraged to mount an ambitious, professional production. While visiting Bohemian Grove in 1921, the well-known soprano Mary Garden accepted the opera with the intention to produce it in Chicago, but it would take several more years to make its public debut. After the end of Wor.... Discover the J A Templeton Julia Templeton popular books. Find the top 100 most popular J A Templeton Julia Templeton books.